Kelly Overstreet Johnson, president of the Florida Bar: "a woman of her word, a builder of consensus".

• Author: Pudlow, Jan
• Position: Interview

On an outing to Deer Valley in Utah, a ski instructor asks Kelly Overstreet Johnson: "What do you want to get out of these private lessons?"

Just then, a woman zig-zags down a snowy slope with dazzling, perfect form.

"I want to ski like that," Johnson answers matter-of-factly. The instructor retorts with a grin: "That's good. Her name is Heidi Voelker, and she's a member of the U.S. Ski Team and is a World Cup competitor."

Wendy Mitchler, a Ft. Lauderdale lawyer who was at that ski lesson too, tells that story to underscore that anything her good friend Johnson takes on, she is driven to excel--whether it's downhill skiing, litigating a huge class-action case, managing delayed motherhood of three-year-old twins, or serving as the new president of The Florida Bar.

"She is not a mere mortal like the rest of us," says Mitchler with a laugh. "Kelly is so organized and focused. She always carries these three-by-three notepads, where she writes everything down in her nice, little neat script."

Nina Ashenafi, president of the Tallahassee Bar Association, marvels: "She will respond to an e-mail at a dizzying speed. I am in awe of that. Kelly considers herself late if she is five minutes early."

Hal Johnson, the self-described "calmer, more laid-back" partner in a marriage of two dozen years, says of his wife: "She has a double-A personality. She is a perfectionist. She expects people to meet expectations, and she is very forceful if they don't."

Such meticulousness comes naturally.

Once, Mitchler got a peek at Johnson's grade-school report cards. Besides the expected straight As, a teacher's handwritten comments revealed:"Kelly is such a little perfectionist. We worry about her. If she doesn't get everything fight, she gets upset."

Flash forward to the present: M. Stephen Turner, managing partner at Broad and Cassel's Tallahassee office, where 46-year-old Johnson has worked for 14 years, puts it concisely: 'There is nothing that Kelly can't do, and she always does it right."

As for leading the Bar, Turner predicts: "She will do a magnificent job. She is a top-drawer person and a top-drawer lawyer."

Kelly Overstreet Johnson serves as a role model for those who want to have it all: high-powered careers, yet time and energy to spend on family, friends, and fun.

"She really understands the struggles women and men have as they balance the demands of family and career," said Mary Sweet, a Tallahassee friend and lawyer who has enjoyed accompanying the Johnsons on international trips.

Kathy Overstreet, a Realtor in Atlanta, describes her older sister as "a very politically active person and so social, loving to be front-and-center. She has the knowledge and energy to be an absolutely perfect fit for the position of Bar president. Instead of juggling 27 balls in the air, she'll have 28, and she will handle it beautifully."

A Balanced Life

At Johnson's law office, the wall the client sees is full of diplomas, certificates, awards, and plaques. It's clear that a highly qualified lawyer, a partner in the firm, is at the helm.

But the wall that Johnson gazes at, glancing over a client's head, is a LeRoy Neiman serigraph titled "California Cuisine." An elegant woman in black dress and black hat sits at a long table filled with a vase holding splashy flowers and a group of wine bottles. A waiter is pouring the lady a glass of white wine.

It's a "feel good" picture, says Johnson, who daydreams of relaxing by choosing a crisp Chardonnay from her 850-bottle wine cellar, set at 55 degrees, the perfect French climate. In her own backyard retreat from a bustling career, she will finally put her feet up on her teak steamer chair with the latest bestseller under the whir of bamboo-paddle ceiling fans on a covered porch overlooking a waterfall tumbling into a pool.

Ah, serenity at last--that is, until her toddler twins, Haley and Alex, come running over wanting to play.

Johnson's friends say she is one of the best at organizing her bustling life into manageable compartments: driven, focused lawyer, partner in a firm, over here; independent, stylish woman, art and wine connoisseur, avid reader, world traveler over there.

Toss into the mix the demands of motherhood, and no wonder this dynamic Tallahassee hometown girl in spires amazement. How does she do it all?

"You just get it done," Johnson answers nonchalantly. "Somebody told me one time, 'The busier people are, the more they can get done.' I've always handled a bunch of things, and so it's just one more thing to get done. Plus, I have a lot of help. I have a live-in nanny, and both grandmothers live in Tallahassee and are frequent visitors and playmates for the girls. That helps."

It also helps that she enjoys an equal-partner marriage with Hal Johnson, general counsel of the Florida Police Benevolent Association. When Kelly Johnson said she wanted to go for the Bar presidency, he responded: "If it's important to you, I'm behind you 100 percent."

"And he has been," Kelly Johnson says with a smile.

As Ashenafi observes: "She has married a very strong man who doesn't limit her."

When his wife asked what he thought of her becoming Bar president amid the challenges of parenting twins, Hal Johnson bought her selling argument that the girls are more portable at this age, and juggling motherhood and the Bar presidency would be tougher once they are in kindergarten. This was the year to go for it.

"Obviously, Kelly is not one who is easy to say 'no' to, because of that persistent nature. She makes up her mind, and she is very strong-willed and has strong opinions," Hal Johnson says.

Among her strong opinions as Bar president will be emphasizing the checks and balances needed between the Bar and the executive branch on judicial nominating commissions to ensure the independence of the judiciary, and revamping the current cumbersome process of approving lawyer advertising. (See sidebar)

No one who knows Johnson is surprised that she aspired to lead Florida's 74,000 lawyers, and won this prestigious post without opposition.

"I probably could have predicted this in the ninth grade," said Janet Joanos Pung, childhood friend and daughter of retired First District Court of Appeal Judge James Joanos.

"In high school, I would have voted Kelly mostly likely to succeed. She was very ambitious, driven, and had a clear eye on her goals, whereas a lot of us in high school were just looking forward to the Friday night football game."

Johnson rises to the top of any organization she joins, serving as president of both the Tallahassee Women Lawyers (1984-85) and Tallahassee Bar Association (1990-91).

"She doesn't have a personal agenda," Hal Johnson says of his wife's ascension to The Florida Bar presidency. "Serving as Bar president is not done so that at some point in time she can become a judge or run for office. This is simply something she wants to do."

Hal Johnson describes his wife as "a big believer in professionalism. That term gets bantered about so much, it sort of loses its meaning. But I mean she is a big believer that lawyers should conduct litigation on a professional, courteous, I-take-you-at-your-word, you-take-me-at-my-word level."

Kelly's Kamikazes

Don't get the impression Kelly Overstreet Johnson is so totally consumed with career, so driven to achieve perfection, that she has lost her playful spark.

Those who know her best describe her as a quick-witted, fun-loving, kick-up-her-heels partier, who is also a generous and loyal friend.

When John DeVault of Jacksonville served as president of the Bar in 1995-96, he chose Johnson to chair the annual meeting. People are still talking about the Friday night party featuring the Beach Boys and the fountain that flowed with "Kelly's Kamikazes," a potent libation of vodka and lime juice that helped nudge even the most reluctant lawyers to the dance floor.

"Kelly has great organizational ability, and she likes to have a good time," DeVault said of his decision to choose her to organize the Bar's premier annual convention. "Indeed, I wasn't disappointed."

Michael Kranz, a Board of Governors member from West Palm Beach, lets out a big belly laugh telling this story: He was attending a black-tie event at the Flagler Museum, for the swearing-in ceremony of friend Carol Brewer, when she became president of the local bar.

"Someone walks up behind me and puts their hands over my eyes. I thought it was a buddy of mine, and I reached behind to grab him. All I get is a handful of silk. I turn around to see it's Kelly. She looks me straight in the eye, and without missing a beat, says: 'I just love those Palm Beach welcomes.'

"She loves to have a good hard laugh," says Kranz, known to cut the rug with Johnson.

Hal Johnson grins about his wife's social side: "I wouldn't call her the life of the party. I would call her a good instigator."

She's good at making sure those around her are having a ball.

Says Jacksonville lawyer Christine Milton: "Kelly is a truly multifaceted person. She has that very serious side that she uses in her professional life. She then has a personal side where she gives enormous amounts to her family and friends. And she definitely has a fun side, and enjoys good food and good wine."

A Reputation Well Earned

That gregarious nature, coupled with outstanding legal abilities, helped propel Johnson to win the election in 1989 as the first woman president of the Tallahassee Bar Association.

"Of course, the Tallahassee Bar Association, up until that time, was known as a good old boys network," DeVault says. "For them to select a woman, fairly early in the women's movement (of women lawyers), said volumes about the respect they had for her. I think she fits in, and she doesn't have a chip on her shoulder. She has attained what she has attained because she has earned it. She looks at everyone in the same way. It doesn't matter what your gender is. If you earned it, Kelly will respect you."

Of that hometown honor, Johnson said: "There...